I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 568 A Story: Old Friends Reunited

When Zhou Chengan and Wu Lingsu returned to the inn, it was already evening.

I spent the whole day wandering around the city, doing nothing but playing a game of chess, just walking and stopping as I pleased.

Not long after returning to his room, Li Chungang brought Jiang Ni over, saying he wanted to paint and asked Zhou Chengan to take a look.

Zhou Cheng'an saw through Li Chungang's smugness; he was proud that he had taken on a disciple with outstanding swordsmanship talent.

The old man claimed to be teaching painting, but he was actually teaching Jiang Ni swordsmanship, though Jiang Ni was clearly still clueless.

After drawing for a while, Xu Fengnian also ran to Zhou Chengan's room.

Upon discovering that Li Chungang and Jiang Ni were also there, Xu Fengnian first teased Jiang Ni a few times before saying that he would ask Zhou Chengan and Li Chungang to give him some pointers on how to practice swordsmanship.

He had too many resources and had already decided to follow the path suggested by Zhao Yutai. So he told Li Chungang and Zhou Chengan about the dozen or so sword techniques he had extracted from the vast number of secret manuals.

He kept chattering on and on, which initially annoyed Li Chungang. He would pick his nose, clean his ears, or rub his big toes.

But by the end, although he still had his legs crossed, he stopped picking his nose and being disgusting. He just didn't nod or shake his head, remaining calm and composed, looking like he was about to fall asleep.

Zhou Cheng'an was not like Li Chungang, but he also closed his eyes, looking like a clay sculpture.

After Xu Fengnian finished speaking, he saw that Li Chungang looked drowsy and Zhou Chengan was covered in mud, so angry that his mouth was crooked.

But he couldn't do anything about the two of them, since he needed their help.

So he had no choice but to break it down in detail again, mentioning the names of the books from which his dozen or so sword techniques originated, and also explaining how he thought the dozen or so sword techniques should be integrated.

Zhou Chengan knew where his problem lay, but he had no intention of speaking.

Li Chungang, who had seemed to be falling asleep, suddenly became interested. He glanced at Xu Fengnian and said, "When I first heard you nagging, I found it incredibly annoying. Your opportunistic behavior is simply the lowest level of martial arts. I was about to scold you, but for no reason, I remembered an old friend and a story."

"What story?" Xu Fengnian asked.

Li Chungang glanced at Zhou Cheng'an, who was still meditating with his eyes closed, and smiled, "Great Master Zhou, do you know what story I have to tell you?"

Zhou Cheng'an kept his eyes closed and said calmly, "I'm not a mind reader, how would I know what you're going to say?"

Li Chungang laughed heartily and couldn't help but mutter something under his breath.

"Pretending to be something they're not."

Xu Fengnian urged from the side, "Don't worry about him, just tell me quickly."

Li Chungang took a sip of tea and said slowly, "The famous Wang Xianzhi is actually about the same age as me and that old fellow Qi Xuanzhen, but he became famous much later."

"Back then, he was just like you, picking up scraps from others and using inferior methods to improve himself."

"I remember when I was dueling with some masters, I could always see Wang Xianzhi watching from afar."

"Unlike me, who was stuck at the half-step terrestrial immortal realm for a long time, that old fellow became more and more courageous in battle. Now that I think about it, everyone says that Wang Xianzhi had unparalleled comprehension, because he could remember all the martial arts in the world after watching a battle once. That's why he later had the peerless skill of breaking all the swords in the world with his bare hands."

"Actually, that's not accurate."

Li Chungang shook his head to himself and continued, "In my opinion, Wang Xianzhi is like a master alchemist who picks up some alchemical stones around him, but he does not only take the stones themselves, but throws them into the alchemical furnace and melts them into one furnace."

"My two green snakes became a green dragon in his hands. Therefore, when masters in the world fight against Wang Xianzhi, they regard him as the best whetstone to hone their own cultivation."

"This is a good thing, but unfortunately, after being tempered, although they have improved, they can never catch up with that old guy Wang Xianzhi. That's why countless experts have unanimously complained, 'Why was I born when Wang Xianzhi was born?'"

"Xu boy, are you trying to become the next Wang Xianzhi?"

Xu Fengnian was surprised and speechless for a moment when he didn't expect Li Chungang to tell such a story.

Good heavens, does he even deserve to be called the next Wang Xianzhi?!

Seeing his daunted expression, Li Chungang sneered, "If you truly want to learn martial arts, then you don't even have the ambition to dethrone Wang Xianzhi from his position as the second most powerful martial artist in the world. What are you even doing practicing swordsmanship or saber techniques?"

Xu Fengnian said helplessly, "Wang Xianzhi claims to be second, but who doesn't consider him the number one martial artist?"

Li Chungang said with a look of disdain, "If you had even a fraction of the boldness of Master Zhou, you, Xu Fengnian, would definitely have a place in the martial arts world within five years."

Upon hearing this, Xu Fengnian couldn't help but recall Zhou Chengan's earlier remarks, and was speechless for a moment.

He knew his own limitations, but he didn't have Zhou Chengan's boldness.

But it was just Wang Xianzhi.

To surpass Lü Zu.

He wouldn't even dare to think of saying such a thing, let alone say it.

Seeing him sigh, Li Chungang said directly, "When Wang Xianzhi said he was second, it was only half arrogance, and the other half was that the guy knew his own limitations."

"There will always be one or two oddballs who can't be explained by conventional reasoning. They may come from Buddhism, Taoism, or the martial arts world. Nobody knows where they will suddenly appear from."

At this point, Li Chungang paused, glanced at Zhou Chengan who was meditating with his eyes closed, and then continued, "I think the main judges of this year's martial arts competition are rubbish, but the vice judges are quite remarkable. All four on the list have a chance to give the martial arts world a surprise before Wang Xianzhi dies."

"That's not right, aren't there five people on the vice-judges list?"

Jiang Ni spoke up, counting on her fingers, "West Guanyin, East Sword Crown, South Lu Zu, North Zhenwu, and Central Three Absolutes, that's five people, right? How come there are only four?"

“Master Zhou doesn’t count. He can already give the martial arts world a shock right now,” Li Chungang said with a smile.

Jiang Ni glanced at Zhou Cheng'an and nodded.

"Leaving aside Master Zhou, the four on the list, especially the new Wudang leader who just fought a fight at Wudang and almost destroyed the True Martial Emperor, and Qi Xianxia of Longhu Mountain, the latter has the style of the old man back then. The one you mentioned riding the ox is like Qi Xuanzhen, who usually doesn't say a word but when he farts, the whole world holds its nose to smell it."

At this point, Li Chungang looked at Xu Fengnian: "As for you, kid, you are quite like Wang Xianzhi. It's a pity that no matter how late Wang Xianzhi achieved great things, at your age, he could easily kill dozens of Xu Fengnians with a wave of his hand."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Ni chuckled and said, "That's amazing! You're so similar to Wang Xianzhi. When you reach Wang Xianzhi's age, wouldn't you be ranked two hundredth among the world's top martial arts masters?"

Her words were meant to mock Xu Fengnian, but Xu Fengnian didn't care at all and laughed, "Thank you for your kind words. I will definitely live to be a hundred years old, at least as old as Wang Xianzhi."

Jiang Ni choked, speechless with frustration.

When it comes to arguing, she has never gotten the better of Xu Fengnian.

Xu Fengnian laughed heartily and said, "In the future, when I travel the world and encounter an expert I don't like, my first question will be whether she is the two hundredth expert in the world."

Seeing that Jiang Ni was so angry that she didn't say a word, Li Chungang said impatiently, "Get out of here! I still have to accompany Jiang Ni to paint, I don't have time to teach you, kid."

"Cheng'an."

Xu Fengnian called out.

Zhou Chengan opened his eyes, stood up, and walked towards the door.

Xu Fengnian was overjoyed and quickly followed.

Then, Xu Fengnian's screams rang out from outside.

After a while, Zhou Chengan entered the room, glanced at Li Chungang who was drawing, and said indifferently, "You should forget about your scribbles. You might as well write a couple of characters and let's see."

"My scribbles aren't presentable, why don't you do it?"

Zhou Chengan shook his head and sat down cross-legged on his own.

His status as a prince of Ningguo meant he couldn't offer Jiang Ni any guidance.

Li Chungang didn't mind and laughed, "What do you think young Xu will achieve in the future?"

"Wang Xianzhi is no match for him."

Jiang Ni was astonished, never expecting that Wang Xianzhi, the number one scholar in the world, was inferior to a playboy in Zhou Cheng'an's eyes.

Li Chungang was also taken aback, then gave a thumbs up and said with admiration, "You can talk even more nonsense than I can."

Zhou Chengan smiled and then closed his eyes.

"By the way, I heard Zhao Heng came looking for Xu today, specifically asking to see you. Do you want to go check on him? I heard you're interested in his princess..."

Li Chungang didn't continue speaking, but those who understood understood. And this "hearsay" was clearly something he heard from Xu Fengnian.

Zhou Chengan parted his lips slightly: "It seems I went too lightly just now."

……

The next day.

Zhou Chengan and Wu Lingsu went out again.

Just like yesterday, I strolled around the city and then went to Yongzi Lane to play a game of chess with Lu Xu.

He didn't pay much attention to the fact that he didn't receive a reply from Huang Sanjia.

They returned to the inn much earlier than yesterday. Xu Fengnian rushed back in a hurry shortly after they entered the inn.

"Cheng'an, Cheng'an, look who your brother brought you!"

Immediately following was the laughter and shouts of the wooden swordsman.

"Cheng'an, do you miss your brother?"

As Zhou Chengan came out of the house, before he could even speak, he heard Xu Fengnian laugh and say, "I just went for a stroll around Lean Sheep Lake, and I didn't expect to run into this guy on the way."

When the three met again, nothing seemed to have changed, yet everything also seemed to have changed.

"Cheng'an, is Xiao Nian really the heir of Beiliang?" Wen Hua asked.

Zhou Chengan nodded and ushered the two inside.

Wen Hua looked around the room, found a seat, and asked in a lower voice, "Cheng'an, I heard from Xiao Nian that you are still a prince?"

Why add "still"?
Because he had heard many rumors about Zhou Cheng'an in the past two years, especially recently it was revealed that Zhou Cheng'an was the head of Qingcheng Mountain, who not only made it onto the martial arts rankings, but also defeated Qi Xianxia, ​​the little celestial master of Longhu Mountain.

Zhou Cheng'an nodded again: "He's just a prince of a fallen kingdom, nothing to say about him."

Upon hearing this, Wen Hua smiled apologetically and said with some emotion, "You are a prince and the headmaster of Qingcheng Mountain, and you're even ranked second in martial arts. I..."

"You're a chivalrous swordsman with a wooden sword, isn't that enough for you?" Zhou Chengan laughed.

Wen Hua was taken aback, then laughed: "Speaking of which, I've been very grateful for your caravan's help these past two years, otherwise I wouldn't have had the money to do chivalrous deeds."

"Don't ask why things are good; if the result is good, then it is good."

Wen Hua nodded and patted the wooden sword Zhou Cheng'an had made for him: "Cheng'an, I still haven't won a single game!"

"We will win in the future," Xu Fengnian said with a smile.

Zhou Chengan smiled but didn't say anything.

It's probably going to be difficult in the future, since if Wen Hua had won, there wouldn't be the nickname "Wen Busheng" (meaning "Wen the Unbeatable").

The three chatted for a while, and then Qingniao brought out wine and meat.

After thanking him, Wen Hua looked at Xu Fengnian and asked in a low voice, "Sister-in-law?"

"almost!"

Xu Fengnian was clearly bragging, but Wen Hua was unaware of this and gave him a thumbs up.

The three chatted from afternoon until late at night, and Wen Hua stayed at the inn for one night.

Early the next morning.

Wen Hua, carrying the wine and meat that Xu Fengnian had specially packed for him, said to the two of them with a serious expression, "We brothers don't lie. Seeing how capable you two are, I also need to work hard. Next time we meet, the three of us brothers must do something big together."

Zhou Chengan patted him on the shoulder, and Xu Fengnian nodded with a smile.

Neither of them spoke until Wen Hua left, at which point Xu Fengnian said, "This guy's swordsmanship seems pretty good."

"Yes, he has found his own path."

As Zhou Chengan spoke, a thought suddenly struck him, and he took a step to follow Wen Hua.

Xu Fengnian opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, the two of them had already disappeared into the crowd.

After leaving the city and walking another thirty miles, Wen Hua plunged into a vast expanse of reeds.

Zhou Chengan followed leisurely behind, unaware of his presence.

He left not long ago.

Several houses were found at one end of the reeds.

Zhou Cheng'an stopped and did not follow Wen Hua. Instead, he walked towards the houses.

Several children were gathered around a stone table, on which stones were arranged in a clear pattern, resembling an unfinished game of chess.

The pebbles seemed to be stuck to the board, and one of the children was trying to pry them off, but couldn't budge them at all.

Zhou Cheng'an just went over to take a look, and then started playing with a few children.

He then had lunch at one of the families' homes before leaving the reed marshes and returning to the city.

Each step can cover tens of feet.

It vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye, leaving the group of kids completely dumbfounded.

To these children living in the reed marshes, Zhou Cheng'an, who could walk dozens of feet in a single step and drift away into the distance, was like a legendary immortal.

After returning to the city, he did not go to play chess with Lu Xu again, but went straight back to the Yuelai Inn.

"Cheng'an, you're back! Is it Wen Hua...?"

Xu Fengnian wasn't stupid; he could naturally guess that Zhou Chengan's sudden departure was most likely related to Wen Hua.

"fine."

"As long as it's okay, it'll be okay."

Xu Fengnian's heart was finally at ease. He opened his mouth, but hesitated to speak.

"Just say what's on your mind."

Xu Fengnian paused for a moment, then said, "Xu Xiao sent back a message from the capital that Han Shengxuan has left the capital."

"and then?"

“Cheng’an, there are a few people in this world I must kill, and Han Shengxuan is one of them. He’s probably here for me this time. We’ll have to stay a few more days. You’ll have to look after my brother while I kill him with my own hands!”

Han Shengxuan was one of the masterminds behind the White Robe Case.

It's perfectly normal for Xu Fengnian to want to kill him with his own hands to avenge his mother.

“Taking care of you is no problem, but…” Zhou Cheng’an paused for a moment, then smiled and said, “Han Shengxuan probably didn’t come just for you. Zhao Kai tried to recruit me before, but I refused.”

"That bastard Zhao Kai recruited you? How come I didn't know?"

"What happened after I left the Northern Liang Prince's Palace."

Xu Fengnian nodded, then suddenly smiled and said, "By the way, Cheng'an, when Prince Jing'an came before, I mentioned to him that you like his princess. Do you think he might send her to you?"

Zhou Chengan smiled.

Xu Fengnian took off running.

Then, a series of agonizing screams echoed through the courtyard of the inn...

(End of this chapter)